BRADENTON, Fla. — You can exhale.Breathe your sigh of relief and hold off on your panic for now, for the Red Sox won a baseball game on Sunday. Their sputtering start to the spring has been halted, for...

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By
TIM BRITTON
Posted Mar. 9, 2014 @ 4:35 pm

BRADENTON, Fla. — You can exhale.

Breathe your sigh of relief and hold off on your panic for now, for the Red Sox won a baseball game on Sunday. Their sputtering start to the spring has been halted, for a day at least.

After Sunday’s 4-1 win over the Pirates, the Red Sox sit at 3-7 in Grapefruit League play, and that record has been fairly indicative of how uninspired the team has played. (Saturday’s 13-2 loss to the Orioles possessed the crispness of a beer-league softball game.)

But nobody in Boston’s clubhouse — and we mean “nobody” in the absolute sense — is concerned.

“I never put a whole lot of stock into spring training,” catcher David Ross said. “I’m not worried about the work these guys put in and how well they prepare. It’s just repetition. I don’t think anybody’s worried about that.”

“We’re probably a third of the way through the game schedule here. We’ve got work to do,” manager John Farrell said. “I feel like we have yet to really get our team together.”

Farrell pointed out that the team’s starters have barely appeared in Grapefruit League games yet. Felix Doubront and Clay Buchholz have each started twice, but Jon Lester, John Lackey and Jake Peavy are all still waiting for their debuts in game action. They’ll come in the next four days.

“A lot of it is pitching,” said third base coach Brian Butterfield. “With the starters being on a slower program, we’ve had a difficult time getting into the rhythm of the games. It’s going to happen in time.”

Indeed, Doubront and Buchholz have pitched well, while Brandon Workman and Henry Owens haven’t. Farrell has seen “a direct correlation” between the days his regular starters take the hill and those in which they don’t.

Boston’s offense has been quiet for much of the spring, but there aren’t any long-term concerns about the lineup. Remember last season when Shane Victorino couldn’t get the ball out of the infield? Ross does.

“He’ll tell you, he had a terrible spring,” Ross said of Victorino. “His BP, everyone was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ And he starts off and starts raking for us.”

“This is the time of spring where we say, ‘Give it a shot. If it doesn’t work, by the time the season rolls around, we’ll throw it out,’” said bench coach Torey Lovullo. “We’re continuing to put concepts in these guys’ heads that they’re trying to execute and they’re trying to apply. Unfortunately, it hasn’t translated into wins.”

Historically, a team’s performance in spring has little to no correlation with its performance in the regular season. Last season’s spring records had a 0.09 correlation to regular-season results, which is essentially statistical noise.

The 10 teams that made the playoffs in 2013 combined to go 160-165. The Royals, kings of the Cactus League, didn’t make the postseason.

(Just as doing badly in spring training doesn’t mean you’ll have a poor season, having a great spring doesn’t translate to a good season. The 2011 Giants, fresh off a title, went 23-12 the following spring before failing to make the playoffs.)

Boston’s veteran core makes the team even less anxious about its on-field performance so far.

“Numbers are not going to determine a good or bad spring,” Jonny Gomes said. “The main thing as a hitter is to swing at strikes, take balls and hit as many as you can on the barrel. Hard outs. That’s it.”

“These guys are so professional,” said Lovullo. “They weigh the consequences and they understand where they are. When it’s time to worry about something they need to really worry about, they address it and take care of it.

“The best part about this team is they don’t panic. They know who they are, and I’m sure they’ll be ready.”

Lovullo added that, for certain teams, spring training results can mean more. For a young team learning how to win or a team coming off a bad season — like the 2013 Sox? — winning in the spring can be heartening.

These Red Sox don’t need that kind of March encouragement. Last year they walked the walk through October, and much of that team’s identity holds true this season. Their eyes have been set on Opening Day all winter.

When David Ortiz struck out against Northeastern, he wasn’t worried: “When is Opening Day? Then Papi pops.”

When Shane Victorino was pestered by his own teammates for when he’d finally play in a game, he knew the date that mattered: “March 31.”

“There are enough veterans with a track record that are confident enough in their own ability that they know spring training is just working the kinks out,” Butterfield said. “Once that bell rings, they’ll be ready to perform well.”